


The Lovers

by iokayia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drunk Shiro (Voltron), Fluff, Flustered Shiro (Voltron), Fortune Telling, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), Halloween Gift Exchange, Human Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Magic, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Tarot, Witch Keith (Voltron), acxa & keith are best friends, the red lion is Keith's cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-03 01:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16316396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iokayia/pseuds/iokayia
Summary: Fleeing from the big party in the dorms, slightly drunken Shiro decides to go to the woods on the campus. Never out of all people he could have imaged Keith would be the one he would meet together with a strange red cat and a set of floating tarot cards.Keith was obviously not interested. He made Shiro feel impossibly small and insignificant in his presence like Keith was an otherworldly creature gracing the humans with his mere existence.Well, somehow he was, at least to Shiro. It was not only his crush speaking - okay maybe a bit - but Keith had something else. Shiro would describe it as ‘aura.’ It even felt a bit magical. The way the world seemed to come to a halt in the rare moments he laughed, or how he managed to avoid all obstacles in his path with his head firmly in a book or how birds seemed to flock to him and settle by his feet whenever he sat down on the campus grounds.He was extraordinary in every way.





	The Lovers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captainhurricane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainhurricane/gifts).



> Hello!
> 
> This is my gift for captainhurricane for the Sheith Halloween Exchange. They asked for witchcraft and drinking parties as well as mutual pining. I couldn't resist writing something about Witch!Keith, since that's my weakness. I hope it's at least a bit to your liking since I really really love your stories. I had a lot of fun writing this story may it honor all of your beautiful works.
> 
> This story was beta-read by the beautiful Emily aka copilotsheith! Find her on [tumblr](https://copilotsheith.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/copilotsheith)!
> 
> I wish you a lot of fun! :D

To say Takashi Shirogane was an upstanding citizen was far from the truth. His professors truly believed it, only seeing the dedicated, hard-working student, who never missed a deadline and had the highest scores. Shiro would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy that image. He had worked hard for it, after all, so his teachers were partly right. He enjoyed making his family living overseas proud. They had sacrificed a lot to make his abroad studying possible. 

There was one aspect a lot of people were wrong about as well: contrary to popular belief, Takashi Shirogane didn't actually have a stick up his ass. It was something his friends knew better than most. Behind his soft voice and gentle smiles, dusty dry and dark humor hid beside teasing smirks and snarky remarks. They were never insulting, but sometimes one had to think twice before they understood what he meant.

Shiro was hardly a plain-looking man either. He was tall, towering over almost every other student, immediately recognizable with his white, slightly silver hair, and muscular physique. 

He was a sight to behold, and he was fully aware of that.

It was almost like there were two sides of him completing the sum of the man he was today: the hard-working student and the mischievous, young, party animal. Shiro liked dancing, heavy bass, and alcohol - the latter may be a bit too much for his own good. 

"I'm never drinking again," he told himself time and time again when he woke the morning after. It was a promise he always failed to keep.

It had been a small party, only around fifty people or so. Shiro had danced with the hot captain of the rugby team, ate some mac ‘n’ cheese and maybe drunk two or three beers — or even a few more, but who cared.

He only realized he was a bit tipsy as he left, Matt’s hand on his back.

Matt had to scream to be heard over the booming music, the bass resonating in Shiro’s chest. “Are you leaving already?”

“Yeah”, he yelled back, his hand clenched around the doorknob. “Don’t want to miss class tomorrow.” 

His friend’s face was lined with disappointment as Shiro turned his head around. “It’s only 1 AM!” 

Shiro raised his brows. Normally Matt was the one complaining about the loud music and the awful reek of alcohol. Well, at least he used to. Until Matt had found out they attended parties as well. Oh-oh. Now everything made sense. A smirk sneaked across Shiro’s lips.

Matt’s crush - Luca Harjo, the captain of the archery club - had to be here. Shiro didn’t know a lot about them, only that they were Muscogee and were good friends with Allura, the captain of the fencing team. Nobody knew when Matt picked up interest in them, but he hadn’t missed a single party for the last few months, something he had never done before. 

Shiro waggled with his eyebrows as a faint blush crept on Matt’s cheeks. “I’m pretty sure someone we both know doesn’t mind it’s that late.”

His look grew desperate. “You can’t leave me alone, Shiro!”

“Oh come on! As if you have ever made a move to talk to them. You always hide behind me!”

“You’re awful.”

“I know.” Shiro let some seconds pass before he stepped closer to Matt to lay his hand on his shoulder. A few strands of his long ponytail tickled his knuckles. “I believe in you, my friend. You’ll do it tonight, I’m sure.”

Matt’s shoulders relaxed under his warm touch and a sigh left his lips as he eyed the floor. “You think so?”

“Absolutely.”

His eyes flicked up to meet his friend’s gentle smile. Determination sparkled in them, assuring Shiro that Matt would manage to talk to Luca today. 

“Then watch me, Shirogane.”

Shiro snorted when he watched Matt running off with a stupidly happy smile on his face. He was awfully in love. 

Like he was.

That was another thing about Shiro many people assumed incorrectly. They thought Shiro was not interested in something like love or relationships, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Shiro was greatly interested in love. The unfortunate thing was, the object of his love didn’t care back and it killed him a little bit more every day. 

Keith Kogane was everything Shiro wasn’t. He was small, had delicate features and preferred silence over the company of others. The worst part? He hated Shiro like nobody else. 

The cold night air hit him right in the face when he left the dorm. Shiro had tried to be friendly, but nothing seemed able to melt the ice in Keith's heart. His displeasure at his very presence was always clear in the harsh blue eyes that pierced through Shiro's soul like tiny needles. Despite those looks, Shiro had tried once to talk to Keith, and he had got nothing else back then a long stare. He had been able to endure it for almost ten seconds before he had to turn away. 

Keith was obviously not interested. He made Shiro feel impossibly small and insignificant in his presence like Keith was an otherworldly creature gracing the humans with his mere existence.   

Well, somehow he was, at least to Shiro. It was not only his crush speaking - okay maybe a bit - but Keith had something else. Shiro would describe it as ‘aura.’ It even felt a bit magical. The way the world seemed to come to a halt in the rare moments he laughed, or how he managed to avoid all obstacles in his path with his head firmly in a book or how birds seemed to flock to him and settle by his feet whenever he sat down on the campus grounds.

He was extraordinary in every way.

Shiro yearned for nothing more than a simple explanation, but at the same time, he knew he would never get one. With a sad smile, he kicked a pebble laying in front of him away. Life was unfair, and he had to accept it. No matter how hard he tried not to. 

Maybe it was better this way. 

Unnoticed, his legs had carried him towards the college’s forest, used for field studies by the bio department. Shiro didn’t have a lot to do with it since he was an astrophysics major. Formulas were a closer friend than trees and leaves. But he enjoyed it nevertheless. A group of wooden benches and tables could be found in the center, and Matt and Shiro liked to do their homework there, accompanied by the chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves and the distant smell of resin leaking from the depths of the woods. 

He could even smell it now, as he carefully walked down the dusty path leading into the forest. The sound of his steps interrupted the silence around him unceremoniously and he couldn’t deny the feeling that he might be disturbing something holy. 

For a short moment, he considered to turn back to his dorms but almost immediately he pushed the thought away. What could he even do in his room? The party was insanely loud and wouldn’t stop within the next hours. Plus, going back would eventually lead to more drinking and he had sworn himself to reduce his consumption.

So dorms were not an option. 

The idea of sleeping on one of the wooden benches grew more appealing to him with every step he took. His jacket was warm therefore getting ill seemed to be unlikely. Mentally, Shiro gave himself a pat on the back. 

The thought of a place to sleep made him incredibly tired. He tried to suppress a yawn as he allowed his mind to linger a bit longer on it but failed. The chilly air made his hot breath visible in front of him with every exhale before it quickly vanished around him. His eyelids started to feel awfully heavy and Shiro could almost hear his whole body begging for rest.

‘Soon,’ he told himself and lifted his gaze from the ground to look around, hoping to force his eyes to stay open. It worked, if only briefly. But soon he started to stumble, and he had to pause to regain his footing more and more frequently.

It was maybe the fifth or sixth time his back came to rest against the hard bark, pushing uncomfortably against his shoulder blades as Shiro finally recognized the well-known, weather-worn direction signs. He let out a sigh of relief - sleep was near.

Overtired, he convinced himself to set his legs into motion, encouraged by the thought ‘only one last time’. It was incredibly difficult to see the path in front of him and not to run into the undergrowth. He didn’t need injuries on top of his drunken and exhausted state with no hope to be found by anyone. 

Shiro didn’t know how utterly wrong he was about that until he reached the clearance. Firstly, he didn’t notice it, his eyes fixed to the ground but as he heard voices. He stopped walking instantly, trying not to create any noise that could give him away. With great caution, he headed towards a tree in front of him, desperately hoping he wouldn’t step on a stick accidentally. 

He was lucky. 

With smooth movements, he managed to hide behind the thick tree trunk, and it took a few deep breaths before he had enough courage to get comfortable with the idea of gazing past it to find out who went out on nightly walks into the forest.

‘You can do this.’ Shiro counted to three before he shifted his head. The clearance in front of him was coated in darkness apart from a small source of purple light at its very end and the full moon above them. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look at it and to his horror, he discovered a very well-known body shape illuminated by the smoldering light. Too well-known for comfort. It was nobody but Keith himself. Lithe, beautiful Keith. A humorless chuckle rumbled through Shiro’s chest. Fate hated him apparently. 

What in God’s name had driven Keith out in the woods at such a horrible time? Was it the party? Keith didn’t look like the type of person who enjoyed parties, and if Shiro came to think about it, he had never seen him attending them either. 

The sound of muttering distracted Shiro from that idea and to his utter surprise, Keith seemed to be in company. His breath hitched in his throat. He couldn’t understand them, but he would be damned if he didn’t recognize the tone of the voice. It was higher than Keith’s and was often heard in duet with his one - Acxa.

His throat tightened. Maybe he had interrupted something important here, a date or something. The icy claws of dismay clenched around his heart. How hadn’t he recognized it, how awfully foolish had he been to not understand their tender touches, their trustful smiles? How could he have dared to hope when there never had been a chance for him?

Every heartbeat felt like a punch against his stomach, every breath was agony, scratching in his throat like needles and made him unable to process anything except for the facts he had denied for so long.

Shiro was too focused on his self-made truth to recognize the movement at the table and the wave Axca gave Keith as she disappeared into the night, melting into the darkness around her that welcomed her like an old friend. Neither did he see Keith and the swirling cards around him, blanked by purple mist and the red cat stroking around his feet.

The peaceful silence was interrupted, sudden and harsh, by Keith’s gentle voice, layered by a teasing tone.

“Shiro I know you’ve been hiding behind that tree and staring at me for the last five minutes.”

Embarrassment drowned Shiro’s face in a bright red. Ouch, that hurt. Shiro had always thought his stealth abilities were passable, but apparently, nobody could fool a... what even was Keith?

“Uhm... sorry,” he managed to mumble while he was staring down on his shoes, adorned with a slim ray of silver moonlight which sneaked through the leaves moving in the wind above him.

He could hear a sigh and rustling of clothes before Keith raised his voice again, this time a lot friendlier. He didn’t dare to look up. “Shit happens, I guess. Good thing you haven’t fainted yet.”

The last sentence made Shiro look up, taken back by the sudden closeness of Keith, who somehow had managed to sit down on the nearest table. A cat sat beside him, completely silent, only recognizable through their bright yellow eyes that seemed to almost sparkle. A cold shiver ran down Shiro’s neck. There was something about it that felt paranormal.

Quickly, he realized the spooky cat was a minor thing to worry about, compared to Keith himself. His hair was floating, thick strains of inky black surrounding his head like a crown, delicate yet untouchable. They almost got caught by the long lashes every time he blinked, hiding the violet shade of his deep blue eyes. Slender lips were curled to a smirk, parting the way to his pearly teeth, illuminated by the faint moonlight. 

Shiro let out a quiet gasp at the sight, unable to contain the wonder Keith awakened in him. At the very same moment, embarrassment overcame him. He was so painfully obvious. Luckily, Keith didn’t seem to mind, he continued to smile, watching Shiro.

He needed another few seconds to process the scene in front of him before he was able to respond, his voice hoarse and breathy. “Why should I faint?” 

Of course, Shiro knew why he should crumple or run away as every normal human being should. Keith was obviously not human or very cruel to pull such an elaborate joke on him, but something told him it wasn’t the latter.  Shiro’s legs weren’t obedient when he tried to move them. Somehow he couldn’t - or wouldn’t move them? Keith enchanted him, pulled him into his otherworldly aura, irresistible and stronger than a power of nature. 

Shiro’s oblivious question educed a chuckle from Keith, lighting a twinkle in his eyes he had never seen before. It seemed... friendly.   

“Seeing a man in the woods with floating hair should raise some concern in you.”

“Could be the wind,” Shiro answered immediately and in the same second, he wanted to die as his face heated up. Did he really just say that? In an almost wind-still night? He was beyond help.

Keith raised his eyebrows, a teasing grin tugging at the corners of his lips: “The wind?”

Shiro wished for nothing more than to be swallowed by the ground beneath him. This was too embarrassing to possibly endure. He decided to answer regardless; silence would be even worse.

Unfortunately, nothing intelligent came to his mind so he took the first thing that came to his mind, which wasn’t the best idea: “Yeah?”

Why, out of all people, was Keith the one who made him so nervous? Why couldn’t he be charming, and eloquent like he usually was? 

Was it the crush he had on him since seemingly forever? The hitch in his breath every time he saw the soft autumn leaves falling down, laying down so gently on his head, forming a crown to match his beautiful smile while he watched over the cat in his lap? Was it the sparkle of his eyes when he discovered an unknown plant on the campus? Or was it the bounce in his step when he listened to his favorite music, softly humming along? 

Shiro shut his eyes to refocus. It was all of it, and he hated how it paralyzed him. He couldn’t do anything when he was near Keith, only stare and gape, admiring the defined lines of his face, the long lashes teasing the tender skin of his cheeks. He couldn’t breathe when those deep blue eyes found him, the soft autumn sun vesting them a soft purple shade Shiro’s brain had absorbed and tried to find again, forcing him to spend nights in front of his laptop searching for that particular color.

He never found it. 

Keith interrupted his thoughts with a low voice, tickling the hairs on Shiro’s neck as it gently floated by. It made him twitch, daring his eyes up again he had put down without his notice. 

“Are you sure about the wind?”

Shiro’s eyes widened as he looked at Keith, fully embracing him, a gasp leaving his lips. He looked impossibly beautiful and dangerous at the same time, dark red light curling around his black iris, lining the soft blue of his eyes, his hair fluttering wildly without any wind, surrounded by something Shiro would call mist. It seemed untouchable, like the person it tugged in. 

Slowly, Keith stretched out his right hand, and a pleasant look took over his face as he recognized him not flinching away. Shiro’s look hastily blinked downwards, from twinkling eyes to a slender hand.

What did Keith want? Taking his hand? Shiro gulped to soothe the itching in his throat. That was too much for his poor soul. Nevertheless, Shiro didn’t dare to move his hand, instead, he allowed his eyes to trail downwards until they reached the table top, meeting a stack of cards resting next to him, protected by the tip of the cat’s tail that twitched in unruly, short intervals. He watched it a few times before he had gained enough courage to intervene his look with Keith's, searching for a possible answer. He got nothing but a quirk of sharp eyebrows. 

“Interested in my cards?”

Relief of being able to let the stupid wind question drop drowned Shiro as he nodded slightly, still wary of the functionality of his voice. Keith let his left-hand slide downwards to the cards, long fingers surrounding them before Keith took them in his hand. With a jerky movement he tossed them up into the air, and Shiro’s eyes followed them as they spread in the air like a firework. He couldn’t see the printings on the cards, it was too dark for that, but somehow the moonlight reflecting in them making them look like shooting stars.

It was intimidatingly beautiful.

Keith’s hands made a subtle movement Shiro only recognized from the corner of his eye but suddenly the falling cards stopped. 

If Keith had been impressing before, he was downright magically now.

They floated back to Keith’s level, whose eyes pulsated with red light, yet Shiro could still see the blue beneath it, which made his heart stutter and his mouth go dry. Why was this attractive to him?

“Do you want to know your daily tarot card?” Keith asked, his voice almost soft and Shiro couldn’t suppress the shiver that went down his neck when he heard it. It made him nod, along with the eagerness that flooded his senses. He felt strangely floaty, maybe it was the alcohol pulsing through his veins or it was simply Keith, with his intoxicating aura.

Keith smiled before the cards started to fly around him in a perfect circle, almost touching the ears of the purring cat. They rotated, faster and faster until Shiro could hear them slicing the air, making it impossible to look at Keith. He was tempted to take a step back, to (???? I think you might have forgotten this sentence)

With an almost unsettling calmness, Keith’s fingers stretched out to the swirling cards and the moment, his fingers grazed the surface of a card, they all stopped intermediately. His lips curled slightly. 

“The Lovers, huh?”

Shiro gulped. He had no idea about the meaning of tarot cards. Was The Lovers a good card? He didn’t dare to ask, but luckily he didn’t have to. Keith’s eyes stopped gleaming almost entirely, but Shiro could still see the remaining red in them as he leaned forwards.

“It’s an interesting card, I hadn’t thought it would be yours though.”

No? Did Shiro had such a romantically aloof vibe? He swallowed before he finally found the right words.

“Do I look that uninterested?”

This question educed Keith a small laugh which rattled each of Shiro’s bones before he took the card in his hand to turn it towards Shiro. 

It showed two human silhouettes, Shiro couldn’t identify their sexes or gender, both completely black on a white background.   

Keith interrupted his trail of thoughts, the tone of his voice almost uncertain. “I didn’t think you would be attracted to someone, actually.”

Oh. _Oh_. Keith didn’t..? He wasn’t aware of Shiro’s highly embarrassing, schoolboy crush? The crush Matt teased him almost one year about by now, the crush that made him blush like a tomato whenever Keith happened to be close. The crush that held him awake endless nights, over-analyzing all of Keith’s words and gestures?

Wow. 

Shiro’s heart stilled uncomfortably in his chest before it remembered how to beat again, leaving him behind, defenseless and questioning. His fingers clenched. He could ask him now, what did he have to lose? He had already embarrassed himself in front of Keith several times today, making it impossible for him to make it worse. 

This could be his only chance, maybe even his last one. 

“Do you want to go out with me? There is a fun fair downtown next Friday.”

The quietness that followed his question was devastating. He felt like a starving man, addicted to the thought of tasting something again while knowing it was seemingly impossible. The silence between them dragged on, each second became pure agony until Shiro’s heart calmed, paralyzed by poisonous realization. Keith didn’t want him. 

He didn’t dare to look up as he opened his mouth, allowing the words that had bubbled in his throat with the power to divide them even further apart. The tip of his tongue flickered across his top lip, bringing wetness to its dry and scraped skin. 

This was it, the final answer to all of his questions. He didn’t need to hear Keith saying it, he wouldn’t survive that, probably. The silence surrounding him was enough to be sure. Keith didn’t want him. 

Jerkily and anxious, the words stumbled out of his mouth and Shiro hoped they would make at least some sort of sense.  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ha-”

Keith’s calm voice interrupted him and shook him to his deepest core. It was slow and deep, almost soothing as it reached Shiro’s ears, taking all the fear away to convert it into something new, something calm and beautiful that made him want to cry in relief. 

“I thought you would never ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this work! If you did, please be so kind and leave kudos or a comment, they are really inspiring and motivating for me. 
> 
> If you want to keep up with my work and get fueled by daily sheith reblogs/retweets, you can do so on [Tumblr](https://iokayia.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/iokayia)!


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